


Better Left Unsaid

by TheFearlessGenius (Time_Elleth_ontheEnterprise)



Category: Pinto - Fandom, Star Trek, Wordplay as Foreplay - Fandom
Genre: Denial, Love, M/M, Pinto, Wordplay as foreplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-31
Updated: 2013-08-31
Packaged: 2017-12-25 05:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Time_Elleth_ontheEnterprise/pseuds/TheFearlessGenius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened on the 2009 Star Trek Press Tour between Chris and Zach remains unmentioned until Chris finds somthing that makes him take a trip down memory lane.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Left Unsaid

**Tite:** BetterLeft Unsaid

 **Rating:** PG-13

 **Length:** 3,080

 **Summary:** What happened on the 2009 Star Trek Press Tour between Chris and Zach remains unmentioned until Chris finds somthing that makes him take a trip down memory lane.

 **Disclaimer:**  This obviously is not a true story, and never happened. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto live their own lovely lives, but in Pinto!Land they come and play.

 

Chris stumbles half-heartedly around his living room, picking up books and magazines strewn on the couches and floor. Grumbling to himself, he pauses, takes in the mess with a calculated eye and continues to make rounds around the room. He promptly stubs his big toe on the coffee table causing him to drop his armful of books unceremoniously on a couch so he can nurse his toe. Finally looking up from his foot, Chris' eye lands on an index card on the carpet by his left. It hadn't been there moments before, or maybe it had. Nah, probably had fallen out of some books. He picks up the card, slightly off white with age, the one side is blank, but when he flips it over he sees 'Remember the Star Trek Press Tour 2009?' written faded black ink.

 

Chris frowns at the card. 2009. It's been nearly two years now since the last Star Trek reboot had entered theaters- since they had gone on that tour. He is still in touch his fellow cast mates, Karl, Zoe, Simon, and Zach, and the others too. He and Zach used to go for weekly coffee runs, and sometimes they still do, but almost never anymore. The rest had fallen out of his earshot, and while they do occasionally meet up briefly, they're a far cry from the great friends they were while on set and tour. Even the few weeks after the press tour when they all realized they still needed each other, too reluctant to relinquish the closeness they had gained in the past year, the press tour rarely came up, and even then it was to remark on the interviews and laugh at pictures. Not a word about what happened outside those, except for perhaps the few bar runs they made; okay...more than just a few.

 

Then there are those things that happened between him and Zach that never get mentioned, just like they never occurred. He supposes it all started in LA...before they'd even left.

 

He has already gotten past the paparazzi at the airport doors and is walking, head down, hood up at least trying to hide. J.J. is probably somewhere behind him and Zach...he thinks he saw Zach enter in front of him. Chris walks farther down the hallway, crosses through security while watching Zach pass smoothly though in the next aisle over. He runs to catch up with him as soon as he's free of the metal detector and picks up his bag from the conveyor belt.

 

"Hey man." He calls, reaching forward, catching the edge of Zach's sleeve. Zach turns, a grin growing on his face as he sees Chris.

 

Then he has a hand on Chris' arm and is joking with a huge smile on his face. "Chris, are those my glasses?" He says in way of a greeting.

 

Chris rolls his eyes and then looks down and away, "No, Zachary," He sighs.

 

Before he can even register what's happening, Zach is pulling him into close one-armed hug and placing his head on Chris' shoulder in an intimate gesture that suggests other things. Zach's only hugged him once before, on set, and then only for a brief few seconds, never in public, and never for this long. For a second he's in shock, half expecting him to let go immediately. When Zach doesn't, he tentatively wraps an arm around his waist. The next thing Chris knows he has his nose buried at the base of Zach's hair and his lips are barely skimming the skin on Zach's neck.

 

Thoughts of being in public, in an airport, and in plain sight, flee from Chris' mind as all he perceives is the warmth from Zach's body, the way his hair tickles Chris' nose, and the faint smell of his shampoo. He's not sure how long has passed, maybe a half minute, two minutes, maybe an hour, all he knows is that when they finally do let go, he lets his hand slide gently from Zach's waist and immediately misses Zach's warmth. Wait no, he's not thinking that, not now. Zach flashes another smile and Chris' cheeks flood with warmth. He ducks his head to hide in his blue hood. There's a laugh from Zach as he turns to keep walking forward. Chris makes a mental reminder to ask Zach about the hug later. But he's soon caught up in the bustle and excitement with the rest of the crew about finally going on press tour that he forgets. When Chris does remember days later he decides not to bring it up, after all Zach never did.

 

They never do end up talking about that hug.

 

Then there was that time on the flight from Sydney, AUS to Auckland, NZ.

 

Karl is so over enthusiastic about returning home, bouncing in his seat and trying to glance out the window that Chris forfeits his nice window seat to Karl. This decision ultimately leaves him sandwiched between Karl on his right and Zach on his left. He usually chooses window seats so he has something to lean his head against while he slept, but with the absence of the plane wall he had simply leans back and closes his eyes.

 

He opens his eyes as the pilot announces they are descending for landing and blah blah blah. He blinks sleep from his eyes and slowly becomes aware he is no longer perfectly straight in his seat and his head isn't against the headrest. As Chris finally fully comes too, he's aware of the shoulder his head is being pillowed on and abruptly sits up. He turns to meet Zach’s smirk.

 

"Jesus, Zach." He mutters, "You coulda just pushed me off." He rubs an eye. "Seriously."

 

"Nah, it's fine." replies Zach nonchalantly.

 

"He definitely wasn;t complaining." Comes Zoe's voice from the row in front of them. Instantly both men snap their heads to focus on her barely visible face as she twists to face them.

 

"What'd'ya talking about, Zoe?" asks Chris confused. She rolls her eyes as she feeds them her cell phone through the crack between the seats.

 

Zach takes the phone from her as Chris peers over his shoulder. The phone's display is opened to one of Zoe's albums, showing a picture of them on the plane. Chris mentally groans as he looks at it. He stares at himself, head lolling against Zach's shoulder, but that's not it. Zach's own head is tilted against Chris' both their eyes closed obviously asleep. Zach swipes to the next photo which shows a similar picture expect from a farther away position. Another internal groan as Chris looks at their laps; thighs pressed against each other and his hand must have somehow slide down to rest on top of Zach's, dangerously close to the other man's upper inner thigh.

 

Zoe motions for her phone back with a smirk, but Chris abruptly grabs it from Zach's hand and deletes the two photos in quick succession. He hands the phone back to a pouting Zoe and then shares a glance with Zach, both men mentally agreeing to never talk about that picture again.

 

Then...oh yes, in London when Benedict took them to that bar, yes sweet, innocent, polite Benedict took them to a loud, crazy bar.

 

Zach takes another gulp of soda as Chris stumbles back to the bar, sweaty from dancing and dizzy from alcohol.

 

"Whyre not drinkin?" He asks Zach, speech borderline incomprehensible and words slurring together.

 

"Because, Christopher," answers Zach calmly, "Someone needs to make sure we all get back to the hotel alive."

 

"Theresa no rethen to worre." mumbles Chris drunkenly, taking a step towards Zach. He stumbles horribly, crashing into Zach's lap. Instantly Zach has arms around him. "Whys da floor movin so much?" Chris asks, turning confused blue eyes up at him.

 

Zach stands, pulling Chis up with him. Chris sways on the spot, but Zach keeps a tight hold on him. "I donthin I'm feeling well." whispers Chris as he slumps against Zach again. Zach patiently gets Chris standing again and helps him weave his way through the crowd to the bathroom.

 

They enter the stark white room, white lights buzzing, music muffled through the walls and door. Chris stumbles into Zach again as they walk past the mirror. "Ya know, Zachy." mumbles Chris against Zach's chest as Zach supports him up, "Anyone evah tellya thats chur real cute."

 

Zach smiles to himself, putting Chris down in a sitting position against the wall. "God, you're wasted." he comments, "You won't even remember this in the morning." Another soft smile.

 

"I likesit when yous smile like dat." comes Chris' voice from the floor. Zach laughs again, sometimes Chris can be real sweet when he's drunk.

 

"We should really get you home." says Zach, worry creasing his voice, leaning back against the opposite wall and closing his eyes for a second. There's a soft shuffling and then quiet breath in front of him. He opens his eyes to meet Chris' brilliant blue ones. Chris frowns at him, turning his lips into a pout.

 

 

"Chris, wha-" he begins to say.

 

And then Chris is kissing him. His hands clumsily on Zach's waist, then up his chest, finally coming to tangle in Zach's hair. Zach tries to gently push Chris away, but he continues to drunkenly kiss Zach. Eventually, Zach's mind starts to fog and, hating himself, he starts to kiss back, opening his mouth to Chris, tasting the traces of beer on his tongue. Chris' hands slide back down to his waist and then up under Zach's shirt. Skin on skin suddenly jolts Zach back to reality. He pulls back abruptly.

 

"Chris, stop." He says firmly. "You're drunk. You don't know what you want. You aren't even going to remember this in the morning."

 

"I want you." States Chris rather firmly, words suddenly unslurred, trying to lean in again. This time Zach manages to stop him.

 

"No, Chris. I'm taking you home." He says with a sigh.

 

Chris wakes in his own bed the next morning with a killer headache. Jesus fucking Christ, how much did he have to drink last night.  He turns his head to see, with confusion, Zach's sleeping figure slumped in a chair beside his bed. His head is tilted to one side exposing the side of his neck and shoulder where a few mottled dark spots are visible at the juncture between the two. Chris does a double take taking in Zach's appearance again. Tousled, lips still swollen, his neck...he groans to himself. What the heck had he done last night?

 

Zach's eyes suddenly blink open. "Hey buddy, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

 

"Like my head went through a fucking blender." he grumbles.

 

Zach laughs softly before going serious again. "Chris," he hesitates, "Chris, what do you remember from last night?"

 

Chris thinks for a moment, blue eyes thoughtful.

 

He remembers being excited, following in Zoe's wake, joking with Zach and laughing along with Karl and Simon. Then everything kind of just...blurs. He remembers drinking, a lot of drinking. Downing beers like water and shots with the rest of the crew for stupid trivial things. He remembers dancing in the middle of the floor while he was just a bit tipsy and then returning to the bar to down a few more beers. Zach had been next to him, sipping at a Coke, not alcohol, he remembers suddenly. Then...had he gone into the bathroom? With Zach? And then...oh shit...Jesus fucking Christ. He had kissed him? And...oh Jesus.

 

Chris finally looks up into Zach's brown eyes. "I don't remember anything." He lies, since it is much easier to do that than face the truth.

 

Zach visibly relaxes and then tries to cover it. "Yeah," He says with a nervous laugh. "You were pretty wasted."

 

The two chat for a little while afterwards before Zach finally makes his leave. With Zach gone, Chris ponders his thoughts. He knows what he did last night, and he knows that Zach knows, he wasn't even drunk anyways. For a minute he wonders if he should've talked to Zach about it but quickly pushes the idea out of his mind. He doesn't want things to be awkward between them; they still have over half the tour in front of them.

 

But in the next few interviews Chris starts to wonder if Zach is touching him more than usual and if they’re lasting longer; on the arm, shoulders pressed closer than ever, even a hand skimming his thigh while motioning while he talked. And then Chris starts doing it back; an arm around the shoulders, brushing legs as he shifts in his seat, a hand on Zach's knee. He begins finding himself looking for any little excuse to touch Zach and then wonders if he’s imagining the little jolts he feels when their skin touches.

 

Again and again, Chris asks himself if it was really for the best that he hadn't told Zach that he didn't remember when he had remembered, but he always ends back up at the conclusion that it would make things awkward for them. Zach never brings up the incident at the London bar, so Chris pretends to ignore it too, but he knows he's not imagining the side glances Zach sends him when he thinks he's not looking and how they've suddenly been entering each other's personal bubbles much more than usual. But the story of what actually happened at the London bar stays quiet and Chris doesn't betray his quiet secret.

 

Then…then there is that one time in Tokyo that they never ever  _ever_ mention. He still isn't quite sure how it happened; only that it did happen. Maybe they'd visited another bar or maybe they'd gotten drunk by themselves on a stash of personal liquor or maybe they weren't drunk at all. But then again, they must have been drunk. After all, Zach didn't seem to remember a single thing.

 

Chris awakens under satin sheets naked, a warm body curled around his backside, an arm lazily around his middle and a leg slung over his own. That isn't such an odd occurrence, he has ended up in this position plenty times before. He's had plenty of experience with one night stands on tours. He usually just wiggles away early in the morning, taking any trace of him away.  Now he shifts slightly under the leg of the other, pressing even closer into the slumbering body behind him. So it is a guy, he muses to himself. Well, it definitely isn't the first time for that either. He isn't exactly as straight as the media likes to believe. Chris shrugs to himself and works on twisting around without awakening the other. Finally a few painful seconds later he turns to face him and find himself looking at Zach’s peaceful, slumbering face. Wha-?! Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell has he done now?!

 

He bolts from the bed as if it was on fire. Snagging his boxers from the floor he yanks them on and darts around grabbing pieces of his suit off the ground, maybe if he leaves now Zach will never know who it was he'd banged, maybe he'd been too drunk to remember who he'd brought home, maybe he wouldn't remember it was his best frie-

 

"Chris?"

 

Chris startles from his thoughts and his actions at Zach's sleepy confused voice behind him. Fuck. He slowly turns to face Zach. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. "Zach," he whispers hoarsely. Shit he can't do this. He takes one look at Zach's confused face and suddenly gains hope that maybe Zach doesn't quite remember. Well, no sense in sticking around if it'll help him. He turns tail and bolts from Zach's hotel room.

 

He runs a few doors down to his room and fumbles a bit in his coat pocket for his room key. It wouldn't do him any good if someone walked by to see Chris Pine in his underwear holding a crumpled suit. To his relief he slips inside without an incident and instantly crashes on his bed. What the fuck had he and Zach done?

 

When he sees Zach later that day, they act like nothing happened. They laugh and crack jokes with each other, quickly shaking off the awkwardness they feel for a second or two. When Zoe does ask where they disappeared from the bar to, Zach says he was too stoned to remember and he mumbles something about helping Zach, not at all playing the parts of two friends who accidentally had sex. Zoe seems to buy the story and turns to chat with Simon. Chris doesn't trust himself to meet Zach's eyes, knowing he would give himself away, so he doesn't notice the look Zach gives him that says, 'I do remember.'

 

Zach never brings up that night in Tokyo again and Chris avoids any mention of the bar in Tokyo like the plague. Their friendship continues as if it never happened, and Chris isn't even sure that Zach even knows that it was he that banged him. He still clings to that hope that he was just too drunk to know and too tired with a headache the following morning to know it was Chris.

 

Chris is brought suddenly out of his memories by a loud tapping at his door. "Yeah, coming!" He shouts in the direction of the door. He looks over the little index card with the faded black handwritten words, Remember the Star Trek 2009 Press Tour? He frowns at it and stands to get the door. Then suddenly another short memory enters his mind. Zach playfully grabbing his script and scribbling stupid side notes into the margins...the handwriting. Zachary. Chris stares at the card and the words written in, what he now knows must be, Zachary's handwriting. Remember the Star Trek Press Tour 2009... he had remembered, Zach remembered. Chris twists his hand around the doorknob and opens his door with a heavy sigh.

 

"Hey man, long time no see." Comes a cheerful voice. Chris looks up into the face of none other than Zachary Quinto. Zach's gaze falls on the index card in Chris' hand and a small smile grows on his face. "I suppose we have things to talk about." He says in a soft voice. Chris returns his words with a hesitant smile and then steps aside to let Zach in. Maybe it was time to talk about everything they'd left unsaid.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and if you have a moment drop your thoughts!


End file.
